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Introduction
What is the reason you live your life?
Some live their lives in a way that they can be known.
Some can live their lives in a way that will make them rich.
Some live their lives in a way that will make them secluded, not bothering anyone.
What if you and I lived our lives in a way that was all about Jesus?
In other words, what if we lived our lives in a way that in everything we did, others would see Jesus, what would that look like?
Our study in Colossians today, Paul shows us that God desires for us to do just that.
In every area of our lives, we should live in a way that points others to Jesus.
In this passage, we will look at how Paul uses constant prayer to a consistent God that produces contagious living.
Constant Prayer
Paul indicates that he is continually praying for the church in Colosse and as he does, he is always thanking God.
Does this mean that in all of his waking hours that he is praying?
I believe that people in the bible were real and very human.
As humans, we tend to exaggerate some and perhaps Paul is exaggerating with his use of the word “always.”
He probably means during his prayer time which he prayed morning, noon and night.
If you remember, Paul had prayers ingrained in him since his childhood and being the devout Jew that he was.
However, since he has meant the risen Christ, his content would be much different.
I am certain that Paul uses this phrase to demonstrate that we should have an attitude of prayer.
In fact, he shares in his first letter to the Thessalonians the simple request to “pray continually.”
1 Thessalonians
There is much to study on prayer in the New Testament where we are instructed by Paul and Jesus Himself in the school of prayer.
Jesus
The rest of that chapter tell us the story of the persistent widow and how her prayer was constant.
As the early church was being developed, prayer was a foundational discipline for direction and purpose.
Paul mentions the necessity of prayer is several other places:
And again in a passage we will study later in :
Paul tells us in our passage today that “we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when we pray for you.”
This is consistent with other passages that Paul wrote.
As I read passages like these, I am reminded that thanksgiving ought to be a part of every prayer.
When we are in constant prayer, we can’t help but reflect on the One to Whom we are praying and why we should be thankful.
Paul specifies that we are praying and giving thanks to “God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
He is the object of our thanksgiving as we as the object of our prayer.
Colossians 1:
Notice in what the prayers that Paul mentions are giving thanks for:
The graces of God.
What are the graces of God?
They are Faith, Love and Hope.
Paul reminds us also that FAITH is looking upward to God.
LOVE is looking outward to others, HOPE looks forward to the future.
It is FAITH in Jesus that brought the people of Colosse to believe in Paul and the salvation he proclaimed.
It is LOVE for which Paul gives thanks, specifically their love for all the saints.
We show our true discipleship to Christ when we love.
Jesus says in
As Christians, we are called to love:
1 Peter
It is HOPE we have that is stored up in heaven, the happiness of heaven that is promised to us.
What is stored up for us here is much, but what is stored up for us in heaven is much much more!
speaks of this HOPE as truth from the beginning of time.
The more we fix our HOPE on what is stored up in heaven, the freer we are in this world to do good.
The prayer is an act of worship and celebration of the goodness of our Lord.
Which leads to the second idea that we can see in this passage: We serve a CONSISTENT GOD.
Consistent God
There is so much in the phrase, “Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Throughout biblical history, God has always been consistent to provide humanity with redemption.
In the creation, we learned that God created mankind in His image to fellowship with Him and exist as His people.
When mankind allowed disobedience to God to take place, God devised a plan of restoration, where an atonement was provided, a sacrifice given, so full restoration could take place.
Have you ever noticed how consistent God is and has been throughout history?
God models this in His Son and reminds us in Hebrews 13:8
Hebrews 13:8
It is not just this verse that gives us the consistency of God.
The Bible has many more!
Psaom
Numbers 23:19
God is consistent.
Psalm 89:34
God is consistent.
Psalm 102:
God is consistent.
God is consistent.
We can count on Him and trust His word.
We can be assured of His faithfulness.
God is true to His word.
According to , when He speaks, He will not relent, He will not go back on what He says.
M
Our God is consistent.
When you have CONSTANT PRAYER to a CONSISTENT NEVER-CHANGING GOD, your life will become CONTAGIOUS.
That’s what happened to the people of Colosse.
Paul shows this in .
Hearing about the Word of Truth leads to doing and being.
Doing and being leads to bearing fruit.
Bearing fruit leads to growth.
The key to bearing fruit and growing spiritually is understanding God’s grace and all its truth.
The Bible says that the people of Colosse learned this from one person.
Epaphras who Paul calls as “our dear fellow servant” and “a faithful minister of Christ.”
Epaphras lived contagiously!
Truth be known, we are all living a life that is contagious in one way or another.
Either we are contagiously positive or contagiously negative.
Paul is showing us here that positive contagious living in centered in a person.
His name is Jesus Christ.
It is not centered in a doctrine, a vision, a philosophy or a religion.
Contagious living centers in the person, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Contagious living is from knowing and experiencing the Word of Truth.
Jesus prays for you and I in that beautiful prayer found in John 17:
This is reassurance that the TRUTH is from God and it can be trusted.
Contagious living is living out the message of God’s grace.
Warren Weirsbe wrote “two words in the Christian vocabulary are often confused: grace and mercy.
God is His grace gives me what I do not deserve.
God in His mercy does not give me what I do deserve.”
Aren’t you glad that God in His grace is willing to save all who are willing to trust Jesus?
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